Sure, you want to get your workers to the gym, but how should you do it? Should you set up a fitness reimbursement system as part of your employer wellness program, or should you go all-in and build an on-site gym? Either option has its benefits, depending on your business, your employees and your location.
Fitness Reimbursement Programs
In reimbursement setups, employees join a local gym or health club, submit a receipt for the costs of membership and are paid back by the company, whether in full or in part.
Pros
The first benefit of this system is that it requires no capital investment — since you’re only responsible for paying for the gym membership, there’s no major investment in equipment and additional space.
To keep reading, click here: What’s the Best Way to Get Employees to the Gym?
Reimbursement assumes you’re paying your employees enough for them to afford the membership in the first place.
This falls into the area of healthcare benefits. Yes, it has been found that exercise keeps one healthier but it has to to be done to fit one’s lifestyle. Not everyone is a gym rat, ( A person who likes to use the gym) plus not everyone has that perfect gym body, either. If the goal is to encourage employees to keep active, then the re-reimbursement should be a credit for a voluntary physical activity program with no one being body shamed. Using a Fitness tracker app is one example.
What I am confused about this “benefit” is the reason for the push to get employees involved. Is there a write-off credit for the business and why?
One suggestion to add to the on-site gym option. If you want people to use the gym you’ve built, top tier executive participation helps. I worked for a very large company that invested in an onsite gym for the campus. Seeing the Chairman, CEO and other members of executive leadership in the gym daily (when they were in town) gave everyone “permission” to take time during the day to use the facility.
Due to the size of our organization we opted for reimbursement which is up to $25 per month, which we reimburse quarterly. Employees may be reimbursed for gym membership or weight management program (such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig). Employees have to provide documentation showing they paid the monthly fee and they acknowledge that they were an active participant during the months they are seeking reimbursement.
We had to define what an active participate is, which we determined that they must have attended at least one time per month. That may seem like a low threshold but we believe it will encourage them to go more than once a month.
Workout in lieu of lunch works great for me so I love on campus gyms.